Axial compressor wheels are typically formed with disks having separate blades connected thereto or a disk having blades integrally formed therewith (i.e. Blisk). Axial turbine wheels typically include individual turbine blades connected to a separate disk. Radial compressor and turbine wheels typically have unitary non-separable construction of the blades and disk.
One problem associated with prior art wheels is that undesirable design tradeoffs in material selection and wheel construction have been made. For example, the disk may operate at relatively low temperature and under relatively high stress generated by centripetal loading. While on the other hand the blades may operate in a relatively higher temperature environment and are subjected to unsteady aerodynamic loading which can cause failure due to high cycle fatigue and the like. The present invention discloses a unique solution to overcome these and other problems associated with the prior art.